In thiseraof technology, we’ve probably experience the term “disruptive innovation” more times than we can count. Our culture is fascinated with underdogs and overnight successes— companies, products, or services that seem to rise out of nowhere and completely change their respective industries.
But not all companies that are commonly known as disrupters actually fit the traditional definition of disruptive innovation.
Innovations are constantly occurring in each industry, however to be truly disruptive an innovation must entirely transform a product or solution that traditionally was so complicated. A disruptive innovation is usually a much simpler, low-grade solution that’s more affordable and accessible to a larger population, which opens it to a completely new market. This usually upturns established industries and overthrows existing market leaders.
Disruptive innovations typically take hold at the bottom of the market, meeting the same needs as high-market solutions in a simple and comparatively cheap way. They usually underrated at first, and tend to be seen as “low-class.” but due to their low prices and other advantages; they move quickly up the market and eventually become more appealing than their refined competitors.
There are many markers that distinguish true disruptive innovators as they are low-cost and highly accessible having lower gross margins than their contemporaries or the incumbent. They serve a smaller low-end target market at first, before expanding to a huge market due to their accessibility.
Smart phones and their accompanying app business model disrupted laptops because the primary way consumers use the internet. Today, well over half of web site visits come from mobile phones rather than desktop computers. However even more significantly, smart phones and their app marketplaces fully changed however we interact with online services and products that gave rise to several services that didn’t previously exist.
Smart phones help illustrate some nuances about the disruption concept. For instance, Apple’s iPhone is widely hailed as a disrupter, however it didn’t disrupt the smart phone market itself. At the time it was released, it was an improvement on existing smart phone models and targeted constant customers—a hallmark of sustaining innovation.
Christenson himself predicted that the iPhone would be a flop as a result of he recognized it as a sustaining innovation in the space.But the iPhone did spread widely as a disruption. It simply disrupted one thing fully unexpected: the laptop and computer market. Apple used the iPhone to lead off a brand new business model, which let developers far and wide create applications and connect directly with consumers. This modified the way people accessed internet and created a brand new market of app users and phone users. Smart phones started giving laptops a run for their money because it was the most preferred way to use the internet.
This blog is written based on one of our session of Technology, Operation and Innovation which was held in our class, conducted by our course instructor Mr. Syed Abdul Basit.
